Frederick W Taylor

Dr. Frederick Taylor is presently focusing on investigations of Quaternary and contemporary crustal motions in the Southwest Pacific using coral reefs as recorders of tectonic deformation with fieldwork underway in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands where the Woodlark Basin is subducting northward beneath the New Georgia Island Group. The main objective is to determine the relationship between the elastic earthquake cycle surrounding the main interplate thrust zone and longer-term net vertical deformation of the forearc. Large interplate thrust earthquakes are commonly accompanied by coseismic uplift of up to several meters in the forearc overlying interplate rupture zones. This involves determining the paleoseismic history of the seismogenic part of the interplate megathrust and relating those events. This provides a rough assessment of the amount of interplate convergence that is accommodated by large interplate thrust events.